Crash ends Formula Two driver Rob Dinicolantionio’s weekend at River Roar before it starts

BAY CITY -- The
first collision at the 26th annual River Roar is sending Rob Dinicolantonio
back home to Lakeland, Florida.

Early in the
second heat of the Formula Two shootout, Mark Proffitt collided with
Dinicolantonio causing both drivers to flip upside down in the water.

"I basically got
run over," Dinicolantionio said. "It was on a turn, and he must of slipped off
the water. You can't see anything from inside the boat, so you just feel
getting hit and then I was in the water upside down."

Once
Dinicolantionio was safely out of the water, his first thought was about the
condition of his boat.

"Even though we
have air down there (in the water), your first thought is to get the hell out,"
Dinicolantionio said, chuckling. "I was in communication with my team the whole time. Once
the diver got me and I was on the rescue boat is when I started thinking --
how's my boat?"

The news wasn't
good for Dinicolantionio's vehicle.

"It was major
damage, $10,000 or more," Dinicolantionio said. "He basically went across the
entire boat."

Dinicolantionio's
No. 33 boat had major cracks on the left side in three spots, and the backend
of the boat had significant damage as well. The vehicle will also need to have
all the wiring replaced.

"Every bit of
wire will need to come out," Dinicolantionio said. "When you are upside down in
the water that long, you basically have to strip everything down to the bare hull.
If you don't, you could end up chasing a broken speedometer for a year."

The damage to Rob Dinicolantonio's No. 33 boat after he collided with No. 27 Mark Proffitt in the second heat of the Formula Two class Saturday at River Roar was extensive. Michael Niziolek | MLive.com

While his crew prepared the boat for travel by draining the
water from the motor, Dinicolantionio
put the crash in perspective calling it the the worst of his 12-year-career.

"We only do this
part-time, so this ends our season too," Dinicolantionio said. "This will
require 100's of hours of work, if not more."

After placing second in the first Formula Two heat of the
weekend, the disappointment was easy to see on Dinicolantionio's face.

"It's tough," Dinicolantionio
said. "We had a second place finish, and then had a good jump on the second
heat where we went up from seventh to second, and now we are done."

RELATED: Links to MLive-Bay City Times coverage of the 26th annual River
Roar ...